CBO: Opening All Federal Lands To Drilling Won't Do Much For The Deficit

Opening all Federal lands to oil and gas leasing has long been a
point of political contention. The non-partisan
Congressional Budget Office put out
a report, at the request of Chairman of the House Budget
Committee Paul
Ryan, that looks at the budgetary effects of immediately
opening all federal lands to drilling.

Lands where leasing is now statutorily prohibited, notably,
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
and

Onshore and offshore areas that are unavailable for leasing
under current administrative policies, including sections of
the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)—generally, the submerged
lands between 3 miles and 200 miles from the Atlantic, Pacific,
and Florida coastlines—and certain onshore areas in which oil
and gas leasing is either restricted or temporarily
prohibited.

The CBO expects the United States to collect approximately $150
billion in gross proceeds from federal oil and gas leases over
the next 10 years. Opening all public lands would add an
estimated $7 billion to that total over the same time
period.

$5 billion of that would come from ANWR, and if the deal with
Alaska is similar to past legislation, 50 to 90 percent of it
would go to the state.

In the long run, the government could expect an estimated $2-4
billion extra in royalties from ANWR from 2023-2025, which would
be split with Alaska in the same way.

Ignoring environmental arguments for the moment, the issue is
that there just isn't that much oil that would be freed up in
such a proposal. The CBO estimates that 70 percent of
undiscovered oil and gas on federal lands is already accessible
under current law.